By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Starring: Flavio Bauraqui | Lázaro Ramos | Marcelia Cartaxa
Country: brazil, france
Year: 2003
Running time: 97
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317887/combined
Bruce says: “Diehard fans of CITY OF GOD should definitely add MADAME SATA to their must see list. Set in the 1930’s, this is
the story of Madame Sata, a bisexual transvestite gangster, who is very much a part of Brazilian folklore. Having seen both films plus the excellent documentary BUS 174 (which examines impoverished conditions of the homeless children of the streets as a bus is being hijacked in Rio de Janeiro), it is startling to see that much has remained unchanged in the favelas in the past seventy years. Issues of poverty, upward mobility and self esteem were prominent concerns in 1930 just as they are today. Note that all three of these films, not just the documentary, are based on true stories.
“João Francisco dos Santos, aka Madame Sata, was indeed a complex character. A dedicated thug, he longed to dress in women’s
clothes and sing in cabarets. He wanted to be a star. He is abusive with women and ruthless with men. He served many prison sentences one of which was a ten year stretch for murder. We never learn, however, what made this man tick. Sometimes behavior can’t be explained, it just is the way it is. I don’t have a problem with that. In fact I have more of a problem the other way around – when filmmakers over-explain.
“In keeping with all the ambiguities surrounding Madame Sata, the audience is kept confused by the fuzzy plot and sorting our the characters one from another. That was not a problem with CITY OF GOD , a more complicated film with many more characters to track. At one point I had various characters in MADAME SATA mixed up and was unsure exactly what was going on. I was relieved to find out after the film ended that the friend I was with had exactly the same problems.
Fascinating as the subject matter of MADAME SATA might be, the director should have paid more attention to detail for clarity’s sake. This could have been a brilliant film, not just an entertaining one.” 3 cats